Have a similar system but dump excess power into my hot water tank immersion heater using a Solic200 box. This automatically detects if I'm exporting excess power and diverts it to the immersion heater. Works a treat!

What a brilliant video. Food for thought indeed and much cheaper UK hardware prices than I anticipated. Thanks very much!

Great video, i would advise to anyone, that DC voltage is dangerous and can kill if you dont know what you are doing and also can arc also. You should install DC isolators and instead of timber frame consider using unistrut bars with proper solar panel clamps wo ensure that dont rattle and that the panel is clamped in the clamping zones correctly to prevent panel distortion and damage.

Be nice to see a year down the line update, great easy video.👌

Brilliant! Thank you so much - explained so well!

Brilliant video, thank you so much. Really enthused me to give it a go.

Very good and informative video, very helpful . many thanks

Informative and very useful. Thank you and good job!!!

Good work Kev ! Realy detailed vid.

Superb content and presentation; very informative.

Been looking for a good DIY video on this for a while now and done by someone who know's what they are talking about - Fantastic!

Seems like the inverter /dongle would have been better weather-protected in the loft space , even if its IP rated, I'd still prefer it out of the weather... Great vid, thanks for the info, very inspirational !! 👏🙂 😎👍☘🍻

Very helpful, thanks!

Great video, really interesting to see how much you can do for a DIY install. Would be really interesting to revisit your system after a couple of months to look at the pros and cons, what you would do differently/ next and what the ROI is looking like.

great content i realy like thats its short but full of good info. very happy

Nice vid with great info. Thanks

I already have a 6kWh grid-tied system, but I wanted to add in a second 4x360kWh stand-alone array just to power a couple of things in my garage. This information is very useful, thank you.

Kev this is a great video. V helpful

1600w panels, EcoFlow delta pro + 1 extra battery = 7KWh storage. Panels mounted in garden with adjustable angle for winter/summer optimisation. Running through independent mains system to household wiring. Currently runs fridge, freezers, microwave, washing & dryer machines. Ready for blackouts with lighting and tv ready to switch over.

That's a great job, food for thought.

Great install. A friend of mine recently installed his panels on his roof using a scaffold tower and a safety rope. Afterwards, he admitted he would never do it again due to risk of falling and pain to knees and wrists etc. Great project update and good detail on your decisions. I look forward to a 12-month review of your system and your views at that time, including would you do anything different. Cheers.

Excellent video, described in simple terms. I'm thinking of doing the same now

Thanks Pro Regards from Holland

excellent video, thanks very much.

Vey helpful - thank you.

Very informative and food for thought.

Great video very much enjoyed it

Good video. Thx Kev👍🇬🇧

This is a most excellent video. I was thinking of a crude off-grid system plugged directly into my immersion tank to make "free" hot water during the summer. I would like to buy prefabricated wooden frames and mount them on a s.facing wall because I don't like heights either. I will be referring back to this video for ideas. Thanks for doing this.

One of the clearest and most concise videos on solar that I've watched. Thank you!

An excellent video for people to understand how to get started in solar power. I would have liked to have seen a bit more on the electrical connections to the consumer board, and how the panels were connected in. Will you be purchasing batteries to stop "wasting" solar power?

Like the Home Assistant integration!

In summer you have light and sunshine in abundance. It doesn't matter if you don't get all the sun. In spring and autumn you are happy to get as much sun as possible. In winter it's hardly worth it and you wait for spring. So it is worth aiming for spring and autumn. So set the angle to 38 to 42°

Nice review and hopefully helps a few people out there who are competent, just building an off grid system myself we have high usage, 10kw modules with an 8.5kw inverter with 30KW of batteries, its been a journey and has cost a lot. I look forward to seeing more on your system and solar journey and seeing if I have wasted my money and now wonder, time will tell. I may do a blog on the journey at some point as I've found out so much and it may as you have help others. My biggest message to anyone thinking of solar is don't believe the salesman and research research research as for experts especially but not limited to AC/DC hybrid systems I have found the experts often don't know and many diy have a go people unlike this project by Keytech22 really should not be doing it. There's a popular solar KZfaq channel and he couldn't even fit a battery in a rack recently without messing it up, the more one learns the more you see how dumb some are. Safety first.

Yours is a similar journey to the one I've been on - before things escalated. The SunSynk Hybrid inverter from City Plumbing is another route to go if you have adequate start up voltage. This future proofs the addition of a battery. I now have a spare Solax inverter which I need to get rid of. The Sunsynk is quite feature rich and the 3.6 version is pretty handy insofar as you can have 7kW of solar panels but is still G98 compliant in terms of grid connection. Looking at the legs on your frames on the flat roof, I'd probably be wanting to put some sort of spreader board under the legs to protect the roof. I'm now looking at adding a fogstar battery (and selling my SunSynk battery) which has been mentioned in another comment.

Great video!

Hey, im in suffolk, built my own diy system last year too, 3kw, 14.4kw lifepo4 eve storage. Is awsome. Not many of us here in the uk doing this.. My setup is a bit different and diy to yours. I did the whole home assistant thing also to send data to my phone/tablet on the wall. Did the lot for just over £4k. (second hand 250w panels, 3kw epever hi hybrid inverter, jk bmses, diy battery boxes, diy everything hence the cost. 👍

Useful information and very easy to understand. No need for the background music though. It would be interesting to hear about how the solar install has affected your bills.

Excellent video - well presented project. I think I will definitely go for the battery option as it is criminal what the power companies pay for our exported power. Thank you!

Very good video. Interesting comparison at the end showing the house, panels, clouds and production. A bit up and down leaves me wondering if the bell curve could be improved with a micro inverter or optimiser setup albeit at more cost.

Great video although I winced at the lack of shoes lol, lots of ppl with large back gardens could put in systems like this although if you have kids I would make ground floor installs parallel to keep the voltages down, you got a good price on that timber as well 👍 subbed, please let us know how the roi is looking.

Great video,, I think I’m going to do similar,, hopefully it will take the sting out of the electric bill, I will start small and possibly go bigger if I like it,

When the sun comes out you can also get charging all your battery fed items (phones / pads Etc). A colleague of mine has a plug in hybrid car and uses that as his battery so saving on petrol and using the suns energy.

Very inspirational, I was pleasantly surprised how little it cost. I never thought of putting solar on my two ground floor extension roofs - no idea why, it seems obvious now. Looking at mine now, my main roof is hipped so I think the lower roofs may actually have more surface area. I dont think you actually answered your question(!) is it "worth it in the UK"?! You look and sound pretty pleased, any idea what the pounds and pence looks like yet or is it too early?

Well done

Well constructed, clear for grid connect and off grid. I accept that diagrams need to not be comprehensive but you have the battery connected to the AC side and need to state the important job of the Charge controller interaction with the battery. Be careful when describing the graph records of day/ month/year solar when you use the term kW hours or kW per hour.

Great video

Done this same install about 2 years ago, same inverter, 6 X 385W panels 29 degrees on the same kind of flat roof. Connected only 5 panels to inverter and using one of the panels to charge a 24v battery and to run some fans and lighting to the inverter. Fans will go faster or slower depending on the sun brightness, exactly as they are needed.

Nice job mate

good review. I couldnt use this set up at my house as even though I have a smets2 smart meter, it has no idea if i use or generate electric. so I would actually get charged for exporting to the grid as the meter will 'think' i am using power.

If you connect a grid tied system with a battery as you show it, there will be a loud BANG, and everything will stop working. The battery is charged by DC, not AC, it connects to the battery side of the inverter.

You can buy Tuya MCB with energy metering to have your own monitoring system.

Good stuff. Explains a lot of small but not insignificant details that other KZfaqrs don't explain

What you’ll find is that you may hit the 2k limit on your inverter even though your panels are rated for about 1.6k. The rating on the panels is the same across all of them, so specific temperature and light. I found with my 4.86kWh system installed in January is at one point in April it the inverter hit 6k (only achievable as was sending power via DC to batteries as well as AC to the house/export) - this was because it was a bright clear day, sun was at its highest for the day which was right for the panel angle and the temperature wasn’t high … ideal conditions as was about 20% above the panel rating. As the weather got better the high production point dropped likely because of the temperature of the panels being high - currently in September after the quote poor July/August compared to May/June I’m seeing 4.2kWh at its peak on a clear day when the DC route is there to send excess (batteries still charging). During the good months I slowed down the battery charge rate to prevent clipping so that there was still charge going to the DC batteries at the peak production time during the day to maximise export which can add up to several kWh/day extra at 15p/kWh in the long daylight months.

Great video - curious to know why you mounted the inverter on the outside of the house rather than in the loft?

Its good you can DIY grid connect solar in the UK. Not possible in Australia, even offgrid is difficult and costly. We arent even allowed to replace a light switch without 4 years of "go to the shop and buy a left hand screw driver". I have even noticed that in Germany you can buy plug and play grid connect DIY kits.

Hi did you or did the electrician fill out the form I think its call G96 to the power company to say you had solar going back to the grid? As I would like to build my own system like you 🙂 I have done an off grid system and works great

Ive been off grid since Feb 2023 my system is 48v I have 9kw solar panels , 5kw inverter and 40kw battery storage all work well

The problem with DIY solar systems in the UK is that according to the information I have seen the person installing the panels needs to be certified for the job. Householders are not allowed to work on the fuse box themselves (as you would need to in order to install a solar system or fit a new circuit) without being certified electricians.

A really informative video on a tidy and sensible install thank you for sharing your project. I initially went for a off grid system with Pylontech batteries but got frustrated over the G99 approval as my inverter was bigger than 3.8 for the G98. I removed all the Pylontech stuff and Growatt inverter and paid a local company to install a Solax system with a 5.8 KW battery. They ‘ adopted ‘ my solar panel install and gave me the MCS certification. I didn’t bother with a meter for export as I also had a zappy charger installed for a future second hand electric car which will take any excess and since may whe. I had my system installed it’s been great getting upto 800kw of generation to date …. My target is 1500 kw for the year ! I’d love a video on HA as that is my next hurdle to jump Subbed thanks again.

Nice video, subscribed! Do you have any info/tips about submitting paperwork to the DNO ?

Looks good, well done for doing it. The rear legs that are beside the wall, are they fixed to the wall at the bottom?

I see one serious problem and one potentially serious problem. 1) The roof above. If any debris is on the roof it will fall smack down on the solar panels. That is from accumulated snow/ice to actual damaged shingles falling. A high risk for damage to the panels. 2) wind could still get under the panels and strong gusts could rip them off. I'd recommend using some celular polycarbonate panel and closing down the sides as best as possble (make a triangle shape and screw it on each gaping hole side, to prevenmt gusts of wind from going there. And also various vermin to make a nest

Great video. You should look at hybrid micro inverters if not already. How did you notify DNO and get G98 certification?

Very informative video. Its a bit simplistic, you did not expand on the types of inverters when you explained the 3 installation types. maybe on a new video, also will be intersting to discuss the possibility to get a grid-tied ssytem then expand to a battery backup one

The ~45° where the frame hits the roof, you may want to put some extra asphalt shingles under them to protect your roof. Just a thought. The wind may cause some wear there.

Very interesting and you've got me thinking about doing something similar. Few questions I assume as this is a small array this didn't require DNO approval but you had to inform them of the install. How did you get a MCS certificate for the SEG?

Good video, I've got 4.6kw of panels spread across two roofs main house and flat roof extension with a 4kw solax inverter AC coupled to a victron battery inverter with 9.6kwh of batteries. Other considerations : if your panels are more than 20cm above the main plane of the roof you will most likely need planning permission, it would be a really good idea to install a DC isolator before your inverter (in case anything goes wrong with the panels for disconnection purposes) and finally when you grid tie you need to apply for a G98 (16amps per phase) or G99 (for ESS or bigger systems above 50kw) EREC as you're feeding into the grid. The main consideration is that your installation is safe and isolates when the power is cut. Thanks for the video I especially liked the home assistant bits. Only just saw your replies to other posts about your G98 but I'd still recommend the DC isolator and have a look at your local planning permissions to make sure it's all good.

Cool time lapse showing the clouds going by with power graph 📈... Are you getting a battery?

Godd viideo - nice and simple . Did you have any issues with the electritian, what did he charge you to rig it up please?

superb

This is a great, and informative video. Thanks for the clear information. But. I have one question for you: Surely you sell your excess electricity to the grid? I thought they paid you for your power?? If not, why not? You called it wasted energy, but if it was sold, it would be far from wasted?

Interesting informative clear concise content…then I remembered life is to short to worry about when is best to boil a kettle..Stat Well.

The city plumbing 15% discount on first orders specifically excludes solar equipment. Still free delivery, and those 405 panels are now £93 Inc vat.

Nice Video. I would like to do a DIY Install. It isn't difficult if one is familiar with Electrics but what puts me off is (1) having to pay the 20% which is so annoying, why the Government can't just waive 20% off all Green products and let people so self install is beyond me and (2) the MCS Certification but with the recent Octopus announcement this may not be a problem

Excellent video. I thought you needed an extra box? Do the panels really plug straight into an inverter? I thought they first went into a control box that then outputs to the inverter. Does the one you have do both jobs?

Great video, I have purchased two of the exact panels from City plumbing, Is the male connector positive?

Hi Kev Do you get feed in tariff at all. very good filming & informative.

You can get 5kwh for the price in vid if you shop around, I built a 17kwh 48v LiFepo4 battery for £3,600 all in. 30% more useable power than the Tesla powerwall and will last longer (and I'm a Tesla fanboy) oh and a 3rd of the price

19:56 your total yield on that day is 7.7kwh ( 7700wh), Not per hour. 1.6kwh on the other day. 😊

worth pointing out that 5kWh of LFP battery storage can be had for about half that price from amazon!

Great video thanks .How does the electrician wire the inverter in to the consumer unit (ex electrician)

When installing the inverter (and batteries), be wary of minimum spacing around it. The one selected here requires 30cm of clearance around all sides and I don't think the installation shown here meets that. When discussing power generation, it's " kilowatts hours" not " kilowatts per hour" - nit-picking but the latter may be interpreted incorrectly.

I went the second hand route and spent about the same. I think I will have a pair of those panels and mount them in the garden. I built my own lithium battery and there is something about running your whole house off a battery every night. We only use 3-4Kwh a day. Some days our daily electric bill is 3 pence. I think that is what the smart meter uses.

Was it me, or were you referring to the wrong angle. Looked like you were using the angle to horizontal, but the website you were using was about angle to vertical. As they were both fairly close to 45it probably doesn't make much difference though

1. Did you get MCS certificate? 2. Did you have to get DNO approval? And of so did you do that yourself/ was it an easy process? Makes sense to mount onto flat roof as mounting on the main roof would have meant a few extra grand just in scaffolding costs

Great video :) One quick question: When you are exporting power back to the grid, does your meter then run backwards ? i.e. will that further reduce your bill or are those watts given back for free ? Thanks

How did you go about MCS certification, etc? I’m thinking of a DIY installation for an outbuilding initially (off grid), but would like to eventually tie it into the house as well.

City plumbing does not allow solar items in their 15% off for first orders, it is clearly stated in their terms and conditions so if you got the discount well done...but it was a mistake. Besides that great instructional video. Thanks

Hi ..Greta vid again.. question how did you get your DNO cert, if you got one and i asume this is not MCS Certed?? cheers Dave

Hi Kev, Great informative video, I have been on the City plumbing website and the 15% discount does not apply to certain items including Solar PV, How did you manage to get the discount? Thanks.

What precautions have you in place to not backfeed the grid on a sunny day during a power cut, potentially putting someone's life at risk, and as I found out you have to have the correct smart meter from your utility company that is bidirectional otherwise it will assume that any excess you feed back into the grid is you actually drawing from the grid, and in my case it doubled our electric bill which we never got refunded for as it was impossible for the utility company to tell what was going in and what was going out, I also believe that you have to inform the utility company that you are feeding into the grid and have to have licences/certificates to do this.

The GivEnergy and Tesla Powerwall systems are also predominantly grid tied but can work as off grid systems in the event of a power cut.

can you get a smart socket to turn on when detects excess solar energy for e.g a electric oil fancy radiator or elec underfloor heating ect .thanks Neil

Apparently you shouldn't install a DC isolator. I think Efixx have done a video on that.

Did you do a G98 or G99 application for your setup yourself or get a sparky to assist with this? I'm trying to keep my cost down and find someone to assist me with my own project but I haven't gotten anywhere and could really do with some advise, thanks.

Hi.. greta vid... But.. Can i ask about the diagram at 03:44 as it looks like you have your battery, DC, connected to the output from the inverter going to the main consumer unit, AC. Surely this woud be 2 seperate feeds.. ie DC out to battery, 2 way. And AC out to mains, 2way.. just an observation..

If you don't mind me asking how much to sign off system with your electrian?

How about mounting the panels on a south facing 6ft high fence?

Ive got an ecoflow delta pro. All ive done is a length of cable, 3 pin plug on each end, one plug in the back of the delta and the other in a house socket. Ive got 1000w solar panels and when the weather is good it powers all the house.